Improvement in candlesticks



UNITED S'Ia'rEs PATENT @Ericac JESSE E. FOLK, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IVIPROVEMENT lN CANDLESTICKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 79,547, dated July 4, 1876; application filed June 19, w76.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JEssE E. FOLK, of' Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State ot' New York, have invented certain Improvements in Candlesticks, of which the following is a specication:

This invention relates to that class of candlesticks in which the top `of the candle is pressed upward to the top ot' the Candlestick by a spring arranged below the candle, and moving upward a socket or support, which bears against the lower end of the candle, and presses the latter with its top against an inwardly-extended ange or rim, in contact with which the periphery of the upper end of the candle is held while the latter is burning.

^ In candlesticks of this class the movable socket has commonly been made in the form of an inverted cup with cylindric or rounded sides. When the sockets are made in this manner the melting of the last portion of the candle causes the iluid material of the candle to iiow over the sides of the socket, and downward through the inside ofthe tube of the candlestick upon the spring below the socket, or else upon the outsideof said tube, disliguring the same. When, moreover, the shape of the socket is reversed, and it is made simply cupshaped, or hollowed in its upper side, the burning of the wick'in the last portion of the material of the candle melted and retained in the cup-shaped socket heats the said socket, and the adjacent portions of the tube and the cup, thereby not only softening the metal, but also rendering the melted material liable to be splashed or thrown out of the socket, thereby causing inconvenience in the handling of the Candlestick.

The object of my invention is to wholly obviate these drawbacks by a construction of candlestick that while permitting the burning of the candle to its very bottom will at the same time guard against the flow of melted material downward through, within, or without the tube, which will prevent the overheating of the metal of the socket and adjacent parts, and which will avoid all liability ofthe splashing or displacement of the melted material while the last portion of the candle is being consumed.

My invention comprises, in a Candlestick ot' the class hcreinbefore referred to, a movable socket, constructed with a chamber arranged below the bearing-surface ot' the socket, in such manner that the socket, actuated by a spring, will continue to force thc candle up to the cap or top of the Candlestick until the' candle is consumed to its lower extremity, and which, when the material is melted at such lower extremity of the candle, will 'not only receive the resultant melted material, but will also receive the last fragment of the wick as it is dislodged or melted by the melting of the material around it, the arrangement of the parts being, moreover, such that the annular fragment ot' unmelted material left when the central portion of the last end ot' the candle is melted and consumed forms a packing, as it were, between the cap of the candlestick and the bearing-surface of the movable socket, and thereby prevents the tlow ot' the melted material in any direction except inward and downward into the chamber of the socket aforesaid.

Figure l is a side view of a Candlestick made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional-view, representing the same with a length or piece of candle therein; and Fig. 3-is a similar section, representing the parts in the position occupied during the consumption of the last portion or extremity of the candle. Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are detail views, representing modifications in the form of one portion of the socket forming one element of my invention.

' A is the ordinary tube, B is the base, and O is the internal spiral spring, of a candlestick of the class hereinbefore referred to, and to which my invention relates. D is the detachable cap, attached in the usual or any suitable manner to the top of the tube A,`this cap having a shoulder or internally-projecting rim or flange, a, as shown more fully in Figs. 2 and 3, above which the extreme top of the cap D iiares, in the usual manner, as represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. D* is the candle, with its upper periphery resting upon the under side of the internally-projecting shoulder, rim, or Bange a. E is the sliding or movable socket, made, preferably, in two parts-that is to say, of the bottom or cap-shaped part b and the crown-shaped part c, placed inthe bottom piece b in such manner as to provide the chamber f, the top of the said chamber being open, as shown at c in Figs. 2 and 3. The width of the socket at its upper part is not g-reater than the width of the candle'Di, said upper part resting against the lower end of the candle, as shown more fully in Fig. 2, with the spring pressing the socket upward to feed the candle up against the shoulder a as fast as the candle is consumed at its upper end, the iiame ofthe candle being thereby, in the usual manner, kept in the same position with reference to the top of the Candlestick,- irrespective of the varying length of the candle. When the candle, being thus continually fed up as fast as consumed, is consumed quite to its lower end, the remaining or last portion will, of course7 be meltedthe most at its middle, or at that part surrounding the fragment of the wick, the circumferential portion of the last remaining fragment of the candle resting above the space between the upper part ot' the chamber-plunger E and the sur? rounding part a of the cap D, when finally the melting ot' the material at the middle of the fragment ot' the candle is carried to such an extent that the whole middle portion of such fragment becomes melted, the remnant ot' the wick drops through the opening in the top of the socket into the chamberf of said socket, and the melted material also flows down through the said opening into the said chamber and is retained therein, the tlow of the melted material in any other direction be ing prevented by the unmelted or solid annu lar portion ot' the candle.

It will be observed that, inasmuch as the chamber j' receives not only the remnant of the wick, but also the melted material that would otherwise flow downward through,

within, or without the tube of the Candlestick, all the inconveniences and drawbacks herein before referred to as incident to the use of candlesticks (of the class herein specifically referred to) hitherto devised are avoided.

The socket E, instead of being made with its two parts b c in separate pieces, and with the part c detachable from thepart b, as described, may have the said parts permanently fixed together; but the construction herein-V before set forth is preferred, inasmuch as it facilitates the cleaning or clearing out of the said socket when the same has become filled. The shape, however, of the part 0 may be varied within very wide limits; for example, it may be of the crown shape hereinbefore set forth, (shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and also shown in plan in Fig. 4 and side view, Fig. 5,) or it may be simply an annulus sustained on three supporting-legs, as shown in plan in Fig. 6 and side View in Fig. 7, it being simply necessary that the portion which operates against the lower end of the candle in forcing the same upward, as hereinbefore explained,

shall be at such distance from the bottom of the plunger as to form a cavity or receptacle to receive the remnant of the wick or iiow of liquid material when the extremity of the candlc is reached.

Vhat I claim as my invention is- In a candlestick of the class described, the socket E, constructed with the chamberj' below its annular top or bearing surface, in combination with the shoulder a of the cap D, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JESSE E. FOLK.

Vitnesses:

H. WELLS, Jr., EDWARD HOLLY. 

